These frameworks can be used to show the driving force concept. Well-run businesses are often referred to as well-oiled machines. These gears/cogs can help you play on that phrase. Any time you have a mechanical-type analogy, this concept can be applied. However, you may want to show a poorly assembled system that does not work right. You should go to FR017 for gears with differently sized and configured cogs.

Many times a flow with sequential steps can be shown as a series of gears: the first drives the second, which drives the third, … These frameworks are a good departure from the often overly used horizontal flows. Be sure to download the animated example to see this in action.

The gears are drawn without a center hole so that they can hold more unobscured content. If you want to add the hole, just draw a circle and center it on the gear.

The tutorial has important information about how to animate and format these gears.